Eastern Closing Thread 2016 Horror Story.

Patrick

Patrick

Well-known member
First weekend of April : 7

Only 76 ski areas might open this weekend from North Carolina to Labrador, 45 being North (Laurentians, Québec City, Charlevoix, Saguenay, North Shore, Labrador) or East (Gaspé) of the St. Lawrence Valley which I believe is unprecedented. As I’m writing this, the Chic Chocs are getting another storm. The situation with closing dates in Eastern Québec hasn’t change yet, they often close with an abondance of snow. The question is, will a small number Southern skiing change the dynamic and provide a bit more incentive to last one or two weekends longer?

Numbers from previous seasons: Total / New York & New England
2016 : 76 / 19
2015^: 82 / 38 (2nd weekend of April)

Let’s move Past EASTer & Go Easterner – Eastern Closing Thread 2016 – Part 1
https://madpatski.wordpress.com/201...easterner-eastern-closing-thread-2016-part-1/
 
I note two things Pat:

1 - you have a lot of ski days this season considering how crappy it was in the east (heck you are at 67 at least).
2 - your variety of location was way down this year. Kid(s) racing at Edelweiss?
 
EMSC":2c7scf4m said:
I note two things Pat:

1 - you have a lot of ski days this season considering how crappy it was in the east (heck you are at 67 at least).
2 - your variety of location was way down this year. Kid(s) racing at Edelweiss?
Click to expand...
This is nothing new. As long ago as 2010-11, 41 out Patrick's 59 ski days were at the Ottawa molehills. Patrick's "interesting skiing" is mostly during the northern summer (South America, glaciers in the Alps, the occasional trip to Mammoth or Timberline). Back then I used to critique the strange priorities periodically, but I retired that :dead horse: a few seasons ago.
 
EMSC":13qvsc6f said:
I note two things Pat:
1 - you have a lot of ski days this season considering how crappy it was in the east (heck you are at 67 at least).
2 - your variety of location was way down this year. Kid(s) racing at Edelweiss?
Click to expand...

This was my third season coaching at Edelweiss and I broke my ankle in October, so the 2 outings (total 10 runs) at MSS prior to December were testing my ankle, especially the 8 runs in late November as I wanted to see if I could coach for the ski team trip at Killington.

I didn't pay for a single lift* ticket until Mont Chilly on March 27, in fact I was being paid for all those days minus MSS and Rigaud.
*I had to specify as I did get a speeding ticket driving back from Edelweiss once.

Tony Crocker":13qvsc6f said:
This is nothing new. As long ago as 2010-11, 41 out Patrick's 59 ski days were at the Ottawa molehills. Patrick's "interesting skiing" is mostly during the northern summer (South America, glaciers in the Alps, the occasional trip to Mammoth or Timberline). Back then I used to critique the strange priorities periodically, but I retired that :dead horse: a few seasons ago.
Click to expand...

2009-10 : Morgane raced Nancy Greene
2010-13 : She raced at the K2/U16.
2013-now : Morgane has been an instructor/coach and I've coached at Edelweiss.

Skiing and being paid to do it. The club lost so many days prior to December 27, so they added extra makeup days on every school days that some kids were in school AND I was available. I bought a Foxcard (11-12 ski days at different ski areas in the East), but I was hoping for better days plus my ankle is maybe at 90% now.

That being said, my season could have sucked for so many reasons, but it really didn't. :mrgreen:
 
As I see it, if you had to suffer a serious injury at the beginning of ski season, 2015-16 in the Northeast was certainly the right time.

Hopefully all is well now, and I may resume offline discussion with Patrick about the most interesting part of his season yet to come.
 
Oh yeah, like I've been saying on the status of the Eastern ski areas this Spring, conditions and winter has definitely less "winterish" by a few degrees and more rain...but it's also colder further north resulting in snow or snowmaking conditions in the Laurentians, the Gatineaus (Ottawa), Quebec City and further East.

Why drive a few hours south and deal with these conditions and charging for more than double the price of a lift ticket. Wait till you see pictures taken at Whiteface, MRG and Cannon March 30, April 2-3).
 
Tony Crocker":17q7k7j7 said:
As I see it, if you had to suffer a serious injury at the beginning of ski season, 2015-16 in the Northeast was certainly the right time.

Hopefully all is well now, and I may resume offline discussion with Patrick about the most interesting part of his season yet to come.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Skiing at Killington where I was being paid was a painful experience, but I didn't want to skip it. I skipped the ski team days held at St-Sauveur in the Fall. Skiing all-day on WROD, no thanks. I reserved that for Kmart. As my physiotherapist told me, there was going to be discomfort, pain and swelling involved. Enough that I had to let my foot swell down to remove the ski boot back at the hotel. Lucky it wasn't too far of a drive. 8-[
 
This is what Spring skiing is all about. What a wonderful weekend.

The best of Spring Skiing – Eastern Closing 2016 – Week 4
https://madpatski.wordpress.com/2016/04 ... 16-week-4/

Down to 15 (which now includes the Midwest) East of the Rockies. Only 6 are open daily.

Midwest : Lutsen, Ski Brule
Quebec : Fortune, MSS, MSA, Valinouet, Lac Vert, Comi
Vermont : Jay, Stowe, Bush, Kmart
New Hampshire : Wildcat
Maine : SR, Loaf

More detail? Click the link.
 
It is interesting that in this, unquestionably the worst overall eastern ski season, that the number of eastern areas open each weekend since late April has been very average.
 
Killington is back and will offer the longest (1997-98) and latest (2001-02) ski season the East has seen in almost 20 years. This is incredible considering that the ski resort only received 81″ of snow this season, only one-third their yearly snow average and the resort’s lowest snowfall on record by over a 4-feet margin to 1979-80

At the end of May – Eastern Closing Thread 2016 – Week 9
https://madpatski.wordpress.com/2016/05 ... 16-week-9/
 
Patrick has posted an informative table of Killington open/close dates and days of operation since 1997. He shows asterisks for 3 seasons where the October opening was temporary. This season's opening was also temporary:
http://bestsnow.net/seas16.htm":38nemxdc said:
Mid-October cold allowed Killington and Sunday River to open first in North America on October 19. After a week of skiing the snow melted and snowmaking did not resume for nearly 3 weeks.
Click to expand...
The days of operation appear to exclude closed days after temporary openings, and probably account for weekend-only operation in late season as well.

I have not paid close enough attention. Were April/May temps in the East below average to slow down the snowmelt?
 
Tony Crocker":5dhmsgsj said:
Patrick has posted an informative table of Killington open/close dates and days of operation since 1997. He shows asterisks for 3 seasons where the October opening was temporary. This season's opening was also temporary:
http://bestsnow.net/seas16.htm":5dhmsgsj said:
Mid-October cold allowed Killington and Sunday River to open first in North America on October 19. After a week of skiing the snow melted and snowmaking did not resume for nearly 3 weeks.
Click to expand...
The days of operation appear to exclude closed days after temporary openings, and probably account for weekend-only operation in late season as well.

"He shows asterisks for 3 seasons where the October opening was temporary"
Click to expand...

The reason why I did is the list of the Killington website (http://www.killington.com/site/mountain ... g_snowfall) is making a distinction for those seasons; that wasn't the case previously like in the 1990s. Killington would open, for example October 1, but then would be close for x amount of days/weeks, before being able to open once again.

Tony Crocker":5dhmsgsj said:
I have not paid close enough attention. Were April/May temps in the East below average to slow down the snowmelt?
Click to expand...

April has been colder, but which the except of a few cold days, May should be above average. The cooler spell overlapped the end of April and early May. Since May 20, temps have generally been +5c warmer than the 20c average and it going to get even warmer this weekend.
 
UPDATE : May 28, 5:30pm : Thanks to this heatwave and temperatures in the mid-80F, Sunday May 29 may be the last day of the season (lift access will be free), HOWEVER if "snow conditions permit we could turn the lift again on Wednesday for one last hurrah" June 1!!! http://wp.me/pP1GY-3gb
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top